It was a .500 night on the farm and a .500 night for games played thanks to Old Man Winter/Mother Nature. The lower level teams split their two games while the upper level squads had an unscheduled night off.
Ottawa @ Syracuse - snowed out, make-up date to be announced
In an article previously linked by Bauxite Afterglow about Ryan Roberts being called up to the big team, Matt Michael of the Syracuse Post-Standard also says it could be awhile before the Chiefs see action again. He also says we were that close to seeing the Chiefs play at the Rogers Centre.
On a personal note, I think it would be a great idea if the Jays could bring in the Chiefs and the Auburn Doubledays or the Lansing Lugnuts for a minor league doubleheader at the RC. I know the Red Sox had one at Fenway Park last season with Pawtucket and Lowell.
Meantime, here's a story by Matt Michael on Chiefs catcher Sal Fasano.
Finally, bluejays.scout.com says the Jays have extended the contracts of their key minor league personnel.
New Hampshire @ Connecticut - rained out, make-up date to be announced
Dunedin, FL - At least it was a beautiful night for baseball at Knology Park, where it was clear skies and 64 degrees Farenheit. However, the D-Jays wished this one was rained out after running into a hot pitcher and being outhit 11-5 by the Redlegs of Sarasota.
Dunedin starter Kurt Isenberg struggled to find his A-game early. The lefty stranded a couple of singles in the 1st inning but Sarasota got to him in the 2nd for a single run via a lead-off walk, single, and sac fly. Then Isenberg settled in by striking out the top of the Reds order in the 3rd, all swinging - including top prospect Jay Bruce. Then he grounded out the side in the 4th. Meantime, the Dunedin offence was doing next to nothing. They were set down in order in the 1st, 2nd, and 4th innings. Canadian David Corrente singled and Al Quintana was plunked by a pitch in the 3rd but they would be left stranded. In the 5th, Isenberg ran into trouble, giving up 3 doubles and a single which led to 2 runs for a 3-0 Sarasota advantage. Isenberg prevented further damage by picking off the Reds Michael Griffin at 2nd base after he stole the base earlier in the frame. He surrendered 7 hits over 5, giving up 3 runs, striking out 4 and walking just 1. Isenberg kept the ball on the grass for the most part, recording 8 outs on the ground compared to just 2 in the air.
Kristian Bell relieved Isenberg for the 6th and gave up 2 hits, including a run-scoring double to make it 4-0 Sarasota. Finally, the D-Jays offence awoke from its slumber as Juan Peralta slugged a 1 out triple and Jacob Butler brought him home on a ground-out. That run was a major victory of sorts as Sarasota starter Carlos Garcia was not scored upon in his first 18 2/3 innings of work. Garcia would give up a Cory Patton double but he would be left there as Dunedin now trailed by 3. However, Kristian Bell's struggles continued in the 7th. He got two of the first batters in the inning, but a walk and two singles would produce another Sarasota run to restore the Reds 4 run bulge at 5-1. Sean Stidfole got the final out, stranding a pair of Reds. Bell surrendered 4 hits and a walk but he did strike out 2 in his 1 2/3 innings on the hill.
The good news for Dunedin was that Carlos Garcia and his 0.47 ERA was through for the night. The bad news was, it didn't matter. Anthony Hatch's two out single in the 7th was all they could muster against Reds reliever Logan Ondrusek in his 2 innings of work. Sean Stidfole worked around a walk and punched out a batter in his 1 1/3 innings and Connor Falkenbach had a 3 up, 3 down frame in the 9th for Dunedin. The D-Jays tried to get something going in the last of the 9th as Cory Patton drew a lead-off walk off Bo Lanier, the Reds 3rd pitcher of the night. David Corrente also drew a free pass with 2 outs but Anthony Hatch would fly out to end the game.
Offensively, only David Corrente and Cory Patton reached base twice with a hit and walk. Patton and Juan Peralta were the total bases leaders with 3, thanks to Patton's double and Peralta's triple, the only two extra base hits on the evening for Dunedin. They struck out 7 times and only drew 2 walks.
On the mound, Isenberg drops to 0-and-2 on the season but the four D-Jay hurlers managed a groundout/flyout ratio of 16 to 3.
With a 4 game losing streak, Dunedin is now 3-and-7 on the season. That puts them dead last in the Florida State League's West Division, 4 1/2 games back of Sarasota.
Lansing, MI - Southpaw Nathan Starner toed the rubber for the Lugnuts against the Dodgers affiliate. Starner got off to a rocky start as the first three batters got on base thanks to a lead-off walk and 2 singles, one of them by Preston Manning (Don's son). A one out sac fly produced a 1-0 lead for Great Lakes. Despite a Travis Snider throwing error on the sac fly which allowed the runners to move up to 2nd and 3rd, Starner escaped further damage as Lugnuts shortstop Jonathan Diaz would tag out the runner from 2nd on a groundball to end the inning. After making an error, Travis Snider reached base on a 2 out throwing error by shortstop Preston Mattingly but was forced out to end inning number 1.
Inning number 2 saw Nathan Starner get more help from his defence. He recorded his first K of the night but also walked a batter, but catcher Jonathan Jaspe would pick off the runner at first base to end the frame. Great Lakes managed to return the favour the next half-inning. Lansing's third baseman Joshua L. Bell, not to be confused with Great Lakes third baseman Joshua L. Bell (I'm not smart enough to make this up!), would draw a lead-off walk but he would be picked off by Loons hurler Franciso Felix. That would be it for Lansing that inning.
In the top of the 3rd, Starner gave up a lead-off single but that was erased on a 6-4-3 double play. Starner would give up another single but he picked off the runner on a 1-3-4 play to end the inning. The Lugnuts broke out with 3 runs in the home half of the inning as Sean Shoffit's 2 run double cashed in a leadoff walk by Scott Campbell and a single by Jonathan Diaz. Shoffit eventually scored on Brian Pettway's sac fly. In between, Travis Snider reached base on another error but he was thrown out trying to steal 2nd.
The 4th inning saw Nathan Starner give up 2 more singles to the Loons, including an RBI single one by Scott Van Slyke (son of Andy) to cut the Lansing lead to 3-2. However, Starner recorded his 1st 3 up, 3 down frame in the 5th and the Lugnuts offence rewarded him with another run in the bottom half of the frame. The 'Nuts greeted the Great Lakes new hurler, Jesus Rodriguez, with three consecutive one out singles as Jonathan Diaz scored on a Yuber Rodriguez base knock to make it 4-2 Lansing.
The top of the 6th saw Starner turn to his defence again. A lead-off single was erased on a 6-4-3 twin killing and a second single was rendered meaningless after an inning ending groundball. That was all for Starner, who worked around 8 hits and 2 walks in 6 innings, striking out 3. A whopping 11 of his 13 outs in play were on the ground.
Venezeluan Julio Pinto allowed just one hit in 2 scoreless innings and racking up 3 K's. Meantime, the Lugnuts upped their lead to 5-2 in the 7th as Yuber Rodriguez plated Scott Campbell with a run scoring single. Campbell, who reached on a leadoff single, was put into scoring position on a grounder to first by Sean Shoffit before Y-Rod brought him home. That run would turn out to be huge.
In the top of the 9th, Paul Phillips took over for Julio Pinto and he gave up a run after surrendering doubles to the first two batters he faced. The Michigan native battled back to retire the next two Loons on flyouts but he surrendered a run scoring single as Great Lakes drew to within a run at 5-4. Seth Overbey would put out the fire, stranding the tying run on base by inducing a comebacker to the mound to save the victory for Nathan Starner, who evened his record to 1-and-1. Overbey's save was his 2nd of the season.
On the mound, Pinto and Overbey have yet to give up a run on the season. Pinto has pitched 4 2/3 innings of scoreless ball, just slightly better than Overbey's 4 1/3.
At the plate, the Lugnuts offense came from the 8, 9, 1, and 2 hitters. That was a good thing considering the 3 through 7 hitters were a combined 1-for-17 with a sac fly! At the bottom of the order, Scott Campbell and Jonathan Diaz scored 2 runs apiece as Campbell was 1-for-2 with a walk and Diaz was 2-for-3. Leadoff man Sean Shoffit had two hits in 4 trips to the plate, including a double, a run scored, and an RBI. The number 2 hitter, Y-Rod, was 2-for-4 with 2 RBI but did whiff twice.
On the negative side, Travis Snider reached base twice on errors but also committed a throwing error and was caught stealing to cap off an 0-for-4 evening. Josh Bell also had a rough night. Despite getting a walk, he went 0-for-3 with 2 strikeouts and was picked off to boot.
With their 5th "W" in a row, Lansing not only completes home and home 2 game sweeps of Great Lakes but they improve to 6-and-1 on the season, trailing 7-and-0 Dayton for first place in the Midwest League's Eastern Division.
Three Stars........
3. Julio Pinto, Lansing - 2 IP, 3 K's, 0.00 ERA
2. Yuber Rodriguez, Lansing - 2/4, 2 RBI, GWRBI
1. Sean Shoffit, Lansing - 2/4, double, RBI, run scored
Honourable mentions - Scott Campbell, Jonathan Diaz, Seth Overbey - Lansing; Cory Patton, David Corrente, Sean Stidfole, Connor Falkenbach - Dunedin.
